Story Highlights

In the Statehouse, the educational standards are on the chopping block, as proponents and opponents go back and forth over a bill that would repeal Common Core in Ohio. The debate is unnerving for educators, but there's really no recourse than to keep teaching, said Licking Valley Local Schools superintendent Dave Hile, a Common Core supporter.

"There's been a lot of man hours and a lot of dollars spent preparing to implement Common Core," Hile said. "Unfortunately, I think this is all politics."

Common Core is a nationwide educational initiative that details what students in kindergarten through 12th grade should know in English and math at the end of each school year. Ohio adopted the standards in 2010, then in July, Ohio House representatives Matt Huffman, R-Lima, and Andy Thompson, R-Marietta, introduced House Bill No. 597, which would scrap Common Core.

Under the bill, Ohio would repeal the Common Core standards and replace them with academic standards used by Massachusetts before that state's adoption of Common Core. Those standards would be used for two school years, during which time Ohio would develop new academic standards that would be installed at the start of school in 2017.

Hearings on HB 597 started this past week, with hundreds — including Newark City Schools superintendent Doug Ute — arguing for or against the standards. Here's just a brief sampling of the testimony so far:

• Larry Stewart, Field Local School District Board of Education, against Common Core:

Stewart is in the third year of his first term on the school board, and he testified that he was elected because because people in his district "want local control."

"This is what they believe in," Stewart said. "We don't want federally generated curriculum and standards backed by the big dollars coming from powerful, influential corporations hoping to gain even more money and power at the expense of our students, teachers and community members."

Roman said the standards are a significant improvement on the previous standards because they place greater emphasis on reading, writing and critical thinking as opposed to rote memorization. He said that while Ohio has had math and English standards for years, they did not align with college and workforce demands, and Common Core is a step toward correcting that.

"As business organizations, we know that a critical concern for employers is to have a strong pipeline of qualified, competent and highly-skilled employees," Roman said. "While we acknowledge there are many other steps to that goal, we believe Ohio's new learning standards are the foundation for student success, providing the academic baseline to succeed in college, career and life."

• Patrick Manley, Columbus resident, architect and part-time college instructor, against Common Core:

Manley, a recent primary candidate for the Ohio House, testified his primary goal now is the repeal of Common Core, which is full of what he called "academic gibberish."

Manley attacked what he called the rigidity of Common Core and the "silly and lengthy ways to solve problems that result in useless and boring busy work."

"I cannot speak for the people in this room, but myself, I am not fluent in academic gibberish," Manley said. "This probably goes back in high school when I chose to take French instead."

Ute has already come out in favor of Common Core. In his testimony at the Statehouse, he stressed the work that has gone into preparing for the new standards, which the district started implementing in 2010.

"You are looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars over the last four years preparing for the switch," Ute said. "The problem is that on top of new standards we are also implementing many other changes at the same time (such as the Third Grade Reading Guarantee and new report card standards). Things keep changing, and it is hard to be prepared when there is a moving target.

Hile, of Licking Valley, issued a challenge to Common Core opponents: Read the standards and cite specifically the objection. There are all kinds of rumors about Common Core, but "no facts" in the discussions, Hile said.

"What in those standards, in math and language arts, are you opposed to your child learning?" he asked.

"Teachers see the value in the standards ... yet we have these people who have no background in education trying to take it all away."